Take Care Of Yourself
- Follow your doctors advice about diet and exercise. If you take medicine, be sure to take the right amount at the right time. Visit or talk with your doctor if you have questions about your health or treatment.
- Consider joining a support group. To find one near you, contact your local Alzheimers Association chapter.
Stages Of Alzheimers Disease
Some features of Alzheimers disease are commonly classified into three stages, or phases. Not all these features will be present in every person, and they might occur at different stages.
Mild Alzheimers disease
Sometimes this stage is only apparent in hindsight. The onset of Alzheimers disease is usually gradual and it is often impossible to identify exactly when it began.
Someone might:
- have difficulty shopping or preparing meals.
Moderate Alzheimers disease
At this stage, the impacts of the condition are more apparent and prevalent. A person may experience significant challenges to their independence and require daily support.
Someone might:
- be forgetful of current and recent events, although generally remember the distant past, even if details may be forgotten or confused
- often be confused regarding time and place
- become lost more easily
- forget the names of family or friends, or confuse family members
- forget saucepans or kettles left heating on the stove
- be less able to perform simple calculations
- show poor judgement and make poor decisions
- see or hear things that are not there or become suspicious of others
Can I Reduce My Risk Of Developing Alzheimers Disease
While there are some risk factors for Alzheimers you cant change, like age and genetics, you may be able to manage other factors to help reduce your risk.
Risk factors for Alzheimers disease include:
Research shows that having a healthy lifestyle helps protect your brain from cognitive decline. The following strategies may help decrease your risk of developing Alzheimers disease:
- Stay mentally active: Play board games, read, do crossword puzzles, play a musical instrument or do other hobbies that require brain power.
- Get physically active: Exercise increases blood flow and oxygen to your brain, which may affect brain cell health. Wear protective headgear if youre participating in activities that increase your risk of a head injury.
- Stay socially active: Regularly talk with friends and family and join in on group activities, such as religious services, exercise classes, book clubs or community volunteer work.
- Eat healthily: Follow the Mediterranean or DASH diet or another healthy diet that includes antioxidants. Consume alcoholic beverages in moderation.
Talk to your healthcare provider if youre concerned about your risk of developing Alzheimers disease.
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Changes In Mood Or Emotion
The person may be more anxious, frightened or sad, and so at risk of depression. It is also common to become more irritable perhaps in frustration at lost abilities or easily upset. A person can often be more withdrawn, lack self-confidence and lose interest in hobbies or people.
Changes in behaviour are not common in early-stage dementia, other than in FTD. A person with behavioural variant FTD may lose their inhibitions and behave in socially inappropriate ways. They may also act impulsively and lose empathy for others.
Significant physical changes at this stage tend to be limited to DLB, where problems with movement are similar to Parkinsons disease. If someone with vascular or mixed dementia has a stroke, this can lead to weak limbs on one side.
Need help finding dementia information?Need help finding dementia information? .
Everybody forgets things from time to time. But if you or other people are noticing that memory problems are getting worse, or affecting everyday life, it could be a sign of dementia.
How Alzheimer’s Disease Is Treated
There’s currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but medicines are available that can help relieve some of the symptoms.
Various other types of support are also available to help people with Alzheimer’s live as independently as possible, such as making changes to your home environment so it’s easier to move around and remember daily tasks.
Psychological treatments such as cognitive stimulation therapy may also be offered to help support your memory, problem solving skills and language ability.
Read more about treating Alzheimer’s disease.
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How Alzheimers Disease Progresses
An individuals abilities deteriorate over time, although the progression varies from person to person.
As Alzheimers disease affects different areas of the brain, specific functions or abilities are lost. Short-term memory is often the first to be affected, but as the disease progresses, long-term memory is also lost. The disease also affects many of the brains other functions and consequently language, attention, judgement and many other aspects of behaviour are affected.
Some abilities remain, although these lessen as Alzheimers disease progresses. People living with advancing dementia may keep their senses of touch and hearing, and also respond to emotion even in the advanced stages of the condition.
At the end stages of Alzheimers disease many people become immobile and dependent, requiring extensive care.
Difficulty Finding The Right Words
Another early symptom of dementia is difficulty with communicating thoughts. A person with dementia may have a hard time explaining something or finding the right words to express themselves. They may also stop in the middle of a sentence and not know how to continue.
Having a conversation with a person who has dementia can be challenging, and it may take longer than usual for them to express their thoughts or feelings.
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What Are The Stages Of Alzheimers
Alzheimers disease slowly gets worse over time. People with this disease progress at different rates and in several stages. Symptoms may get worse and then improve, but until an effective treatment for the disease itself is found, the persons ability will continue to decline over the course of the disease.
Early-stage Alzheimers is when a person begins to experience memory loss and other cognitive difficulties, though the symptoms appear gradual to the person and their family. Alzheimers disease is often diagnosed at this stage.
During middle-stage Alzheimers, damage occurs in areas of the brain that control language, reasoning, sensory processing, and conscious thought. People at this stage may have more confusion and trouble recognizing family and friends.
In late-stage Alzheimers, a person cannot communicate, is completely dependent on others for care, and may be in bed most or all the time as the body shuts down.
How long a person can live with Alzheimers disease varies. A person may live as few as three or four years if he or she is older than 80 when diagnosed, to as long as 10 or more years if the person is younger. Older adults with Alzheimers disease need to know their end-of-life care options and express their wishes to caregivers as early as possible after a diagnosis, before their thinking and speaking abilities fail.
Who Does Alzheimers Disease Affect
Alzheimers disease mainly affects people over age 65. The higher your age over 65, the more likely youll develop Alzheimers.
Some people develop Alzheimers disease before age 65 typically in their 40s or 50s. This is called early-onset Alzheimers disease. Its rare. Less than 10% of AD cases are early-onset.
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Signs Of Mild Alzheimers Disease
In mild Alzheimers, a person may seem healthy but has more and more trouble making sense of the world around them. The realization that something is wrong often comes gradually to the person and their family. Problems can include:
- Memory loss that disrupts daily life
- Poor judgment, leading to bad decisions
- Loss of spontaneity and sense of initiative
- Losing track of dates or knowing current location
- Taking longer to complete normal daily tasks
- Repeating questions or forgetting recently learned information
- Increased sleeping
- Loss of bowel and bladder control
A common cause of death for people with Alzheimers is aspiration pneumonia. This type of pneumonia develops when a person cannot swallow properly and takes food or liquids into the lungs instead of air.
While there is currently no cure for Alzheimers, there are medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that may help treat the disease. There are also changes that can be made to the home environment and daily activities to help a person manage their changes in thinking.
Preparing For Early Onset Ad
Receiving an early onset AD diagnosis can be worrying. Now is the time to put together a plan so that you have peace of mind for the future when symptoms appear or intensify.
Try creating a plan together with your family, friends, and medical team. It can also be beneficial to meet with a financial planner and a lawyer.
Here are some key things to consider:
- Education. You may find it helpful to learn more about AD and how it progresses. Talk with your doctor and learn about what your care plan could look like in the future.
- Health insurance. Find out which medications and treatments are covered by your plan.
- Future care costs. What will your medical and care expenses be? This may include professional home care of safety equipment for the home.
- Disability insurance. What is covered by your employer? What documentation is needed?
- Loss of income. Will you be able to keep working? If so, for how long? Will someone in your family need to stop working in order to become a caregiver?
- Power of attorney. Who will have the authority to make health, financial, and legal decisions for you when you cant any more?
- Support. Try finding a support group specifically for people with early onset AD and their caregivers. Their life situations are likely to be more similar to yours.
Its important to have a detailed, realistic plan for your future care. This will allow you to be more confident as you navigate through the stages of AD.
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Alzheimer’s Disease Warning Signs And Next Steps
Signs of Alzheimers disease and other dementias are different from normal age-related changes. For example, sometimes forgetting why you walked into a room is a normal sign of aging. Not recognizing a room in your house may be a symptom of Alzheimers disease. Not recognizing a spouse or child is different than occasionally calling loved ones by the wrong name. When you observe behaviors that dont seem to be typical signs of aging, what should you do? How do you have the conversation about getting them the help they need? Learn more about how Alzheimers disease and other dementias differ from normal aging and find out what steps to take if you are concerned about a loved one or friend. Follow these four steps to learn how to talk about Alzheimers disease. Learn why you should see a doctor as soon as you notice symptoms that are not typical signs of aging.
What Causes Alzheimers
The causes of Alzheimers disease are not yet fully understood, but probably include a combination of:
- Age-related changes in the brain, like shrinking, inflammation, blood vessel damage, and breakdown of energy within cells, which may harm neurons and affect other brain cells.
- Changes or differences in genes, which may be passed down by a family member. Both types of Alzheimer’s the very rare early-onset type occurring between age 30 and mid-60s, and the most common late-onset type occurring after a persons mid-60s can be related to a persons genes in some way. Many people with Down syndrome, a genetic condition, will develop Alzheimers as they age and may begin to show symptoms in their 40s.
- Health, environmental, and lifestyle factors that may play a role, such as exposure to pollutants, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.
Watch this video to see how Alzheimers disease changes the brain.
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What You Can Do
If you think you notice the signs of Alzheimerâs in yourself or a loved one, the best thing to do is to talk to a doctor. They can let you know what the symptoms mean and what your options are for treating them. There are new advances available which can help with early detection and treatment. One is as simple as a blood test to determine the presence or absence of proteins that may indicate there are Alzheimer’s associated plaques in the brain.
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When To See A Gp
If you’re worried about your memory or think you may have dementia, it’s a good idea to see a GP.
If you’re worried about someone else’s memory problems, encourage them to make an appointment and perhaps suggest that you go along with them.
Memory problems are not just caused by dementia they can also be caused by depression, stress, medicines or other health problems.
A GP can carry out some simple checks to try to find out what the cause may be, and they can refer you to a specialist for more tests if necessary.
Read more about diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.
Page last reviewed: 05 July 2021 Next review due: 05 July 2024
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Conditions With Symptoms Similar To Dementia
Remember that many conditions have symptoms similar to dementia, so it is important not to assume that someone has dementia just because some of the above symptoms are present. Strokes, depression, excessive long-term alcohol consumption, infections, hormonal disorders, nutritional deficiencies and brain tumours can all cause dementia-like symptoms. Many of these conditions can be treated.
Warning Signs Of Dementia
Here are some symptoms to watch for:
1. Difficulty with everyday tasks. Everyone makes mistakes, but people with dementia may find it increasingly difficult to do things like keep track of monthly bills or follow a recipe while cooking, the Alzheimers Association says. They may also find it hard to concentrate on tasks, take much longer to do them or have trouble finishing them.
2. Repetition. Asking a question over and over or telling the same story about a recent event multiple times are common indicators of mild or moderate Alzheimer’s, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
3. Communication problems. Observe if a loved one has trouble joining in conversations or following along with them, stops abruptly in the middle of a thought or struggles to think of words or the name of objects.
4. Getting lost. People with dementia may have difficulty with visual and spatial abilities. That can manifest itself in problems like getting lost while driving, according to the Mayo Clinic.
5. Personality changes. A loved one who begins acting unusually anxious, confused, fearful or suspicious, or who becomes upset easily and seems depressed is cause for concern.
7. Misplacing things. Someone with dementia may put things in unusual places and may have difficulty retracing their steps to find misplaced items, the Alzheimers Association notes.
10. Forgetting old memories. Memory loss that becomes more persistent is often one of the first signs of dementia.
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What Is Alzheimers Disease
Alzheimers disease is a brain condition that causes a progressive decline in memory, thinking, learning and organizing skills. It eventually affects a persons ability to carry out basic daily activities. Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia.
The symptoms of Alzheimers worsen over time. Researchers believe the disease process may start 10 years or more before the first symptoms appear. AD most commonly affects people over the age of 65.
What is the difference between Alzheimers and dementia?
Dementia describes the state of a persons mental function. Its not a specific disease. Its a decline in mental function from a previously higher level thats severe enough to interfere with daily living.
A person with dementia has two or more of these specific difficulties, including a change or decline in:
- Dementia due to Parkinsons disease.
Symptoms In The Later Stages Of Dementia
As dementia progresses, memory loss and difficulties with communication often become severe. In the later stages, the person is likely to neglect their own health, and require constant care and attention.
The most common symptoms of advanced dementia include:
- memory problems people may not recognise close family and friends, or remember where they live or where they are
- communication problems some people may eventually lose the ability to speak altogether. Using non-verbal means of communication, such as facial expressions, touch and gestures, can help
- mobility problems many people become less able to move about unaided. Some may eventually become unable to walk and require a wheelchair or be confined to bed
- behavioural problems a significant number of people will develop what are known as “behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia”. These may include increased agitation, depressive symptoms, anxiety, wandering, aggression, or sometimes hallucinations
- bladder incontinence is common in the later stages of dementia, and some people will also experience bowel incontinence
- appetite and weight loss problems are both common in advanced dementia. Many people have trouble eating or swallowing, and this can lead to choking, chest infections and other problems. Alzheimer’s Society has a useful factsheet on eating and drinking
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How Does Alzheimer’s Disease Affect The Brain
Scientists continue to unravel the complex brain changes involved in Alzheimers disease. Changes in the brain may begin a decade or more before symptoms appear. During this very early stage of Alzheimers, toxic changes are taking place in the brain, including abnormal buildups of proteins that form amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Previously healthy neurons stop functioning, lose connections with other neurons, and die. Many other complex brain changes are thought to play a role in Alzheimers as well.
The damage initially appears to take place in the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex, which are parts of the brain that are essential in forming memories. As more neurons die, additional parts of the brain are affected and begin to shrink. By the final stage of Alzheimers, damage is widespread and brain tissue has shrunk significantly.
Why You Should Make An Appointment Now
The sooner you know, the better. Starting treatment may help relieve symptoms and keep you independent longer.
It also helps you plan better. You can work out living arrangements, make financial and legal decisions, and build up your support network.
Show Sources
Alzheimerâs Association: â10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s,â âDiagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia,â âWhat Is Dementia?â
University of California San Francisco: âAlzheimer’s Disease Signs and Symptoms.â
National Institute on Aging: “Forgetfulness: Knowing When To Ask For Help.”
American Psychological Association: “Aging: When should I be concerned about a senior’s forgetfulness?”
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